Salinger: mystery solved

JD Salinger, author of Catcher in the Rye

In a new biography, two authors claim that a series of novels written by JD Salinger, the author of Catcher in the Rye, will be published between 2015 and 2020.The book, Salinger, written by David Shields and Shane Salerno is scheduled to be published on September 3 but an early copy was obtained by The Associated Press who reveal this information.

It is said to solve one of publishing's greatest mysteries - what Salinger was doing for the last 50 years of his life after Catcher in the Rye was published.

The biography suggests that one of the yet-to-be-published novels would centre on the Catcher protagonist Holden Caulfield and his family and there would be a revised version of an early, unpublished story: The Last and Best of the Peter Pans. Other volumes would draw on Salinger's World War II years and his immersion in Eastern religion.

The Salinger estate, run partly by Matt Salinger and Salinger’s widow, Colleen O’Neill, has remained silent on the subject since the author’s death in January 2010. The two did not cooperate with Salerno and Shields and have given no confirmation about the supposed stash of new works in the family home in New Hampshire in the USA.

Salerno has also made a documentary about Salinger, which will be aired on September 6.